A civil trial to determine whether Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett should be removed from office continued into day two on Tuesday in Loudoun County Circuit Court. … Among the six witnesses who testified on the second day were Council Member Caleb Stought. The nine-member jury was shown video from a series of council meetings. Special prosecutor and Stafford County Commonwealth Attorney Ericlsen asked Stought about each video, highlighting alleged examples of last-minute agenda items being added to town council meetings as well as alleged conflict of interest issues. Stought was asked about a closed session meeting on April 8, 2025. The session was held in response to the Times-Mirror and other local media publishing information revealed in a letter written by Nett to Mike Jones, a consultant hired by Town Manager Kwasi Fraser to review Purcellville’s Police Department. In the letter, Nett made it clear that he intended to become the town’s chief of police. … Olsen asked Stought what was discussed in the closed session. Stought said there was concern by Mayor Chris Bertaut and Council Members Carol Luke and Susan Khalil that the fact that the letter was revealed publicly was a breach of contract.

NOTE: VCOG’s Megan Rhyne was subpoenaed as a witness and testified yesterday about the policy and purpose of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.

A circuit court judge on Tuesday reinstated Martinsville’s mayor to the city council, pending trial on a petition to have him removed from office. Judge Marcus Brinks also gave the recently appointed special prosecutor a week to study new documents she received late last week, as well as a potential conflict of interest that might arise from them. … Jones has faced no criminal charges, but the city prosecutor, who was recently relieved from the case due in part to professional and personal relationships with the city council and potential witnesses, has said that Jones’ removal case and a forensic audit of city spending are joined “at the hip.” The city released the audit to the public this month, after Brown Edwards in Roanoke provided it to the city council in January. The audit examined credit card purchases from the former city manager and city employees, along with the city’s budget amendment process and hiring practices. It lists transactions that are in direct violation of the city’s purchasing card policy, but says the lack of paper trails does not prove fraud or abuse. On a parallel track, Virginia State Police are investigating the audit, but have not released the results.

When Surry County’s Electoral Board met on March 26 to appoint poll workers for the then-upcoming April 21 redistricting referendum, Board Secretary Cheryl Varner was heading home from the March 23-25 Virginia Electoral Boards Association annual conference more than 200 miles away near the West Virginia line. Varner, the board’s lone Republican member, criticized her fellow board members at the board’s April 9 meeting for holding the meeting without her and pushed for the board to set a standing date and time for meetings. After years of convening its monthly meetings at irregular dates and times to suit individual members’ schedules, the board voted unanimously in favor of Varner’s motion, which was seconded by Vice Chairman Ronald Howell, to schedule all future meetings, starting May 4, for the first Monday of the month at 10 a.m.

The Mecklenburg County School Board voted Monday night to accept the resignations of Christy Peffer and Amber Barbour, who are under investigation by Virginia State Police for possible misappropriation of school division funds. In a second vote, the board rescinded the employment contracts of both administrators for the coming year. The vote by trustees was unanimous and came without comment or discussion. … The pair had been on paid administrative leave since March, after agents with the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation executed coordinated searches at the MCPS Central Office in Boydton and at the homes of Peffer in Nelson and Barbour in Emporia. According to search warrant affidavits, State Police were looking for items that the pair are believed to have purchased using a school division credit card, but which were intended for personal use.